The Love of Time
by Griselda Banks
Summary: Oneshot. They are companions, fellow heroes. Both of their names reside in the legends of Hyrule, and they will be remembered...together. Can you say Zink?


**Author's Note: This was a story I wrote a long, long time ago, when for no reason in particular I suddenly felt incredibly inspired to write something about LinkXZelda romance. The writing is not quite the quality of my current writing, but I'd say it's pretty impressive when you compare it to some of the other things I wrote around this time. The descriptions in this fic are based on the way things look in Ocarina of Time, but I think this fic can apply to just about any Zelda game with Zelda in it (i.e. not Link's Awakening or Majora's Mask, for example).**

The moon turned the stones that paved the courtyard to a glittering silver, till they seemed to dance underfoot. The stars twinkled in the velvety darkness that was the sky, and a cool breeze drifted down into the courtyard, bringing with it the scent of a thousand flowers from the flower gardens that created a colorful moat around the castle. In the courtyard stood a lone figure, dressed in a mantle of white. After the manner of the Princesses of the land, she wore a simple white gown and headscarf that covered her long golden tresses. Her long, pointed ears hid under the downy canopy, tiny golden sigils dangling from them as a sign of her royal blood.

Princess Zelda stood in the courtyard, all alone in the dead of night, staring up at the full moon high overhead with large blue eyes. She stood motionless, the slight breeze hardly ruffling her skirt, as though waiting for some sign. At last she seemed to see it, for she lowered her gaze to the top of one wall of the courtyard. Sure enough, a leg was slung over the top, quickly followed by another leg, a torso, two gangly arms, and a head. The young lad dropped the considerable distance to the ground, falling into a crouch to break his fall and straightening up quickly, as though the drop had been two feet instead of ten. Then he turned to face the Princess, and for a moment both looked deep into each other's eyes.

His eyes were a darker shade of blue than hers, surrounded by a young but stern face. His eyes seemed to her to be limitless, filled with the countless knowledge of many more years than his visage betrayed. His eyebrows inclined sharply above his eyes, mirroring his long, pointed ears and similarly pointed nose. Everything in his face spoke of a warrior. In some ways, his appearance was similar to Princess Zelda's. His hair was as fair as hers, though much of it was hidden 'neath a pointed green cap that he could never bear to part with. He even wore small hoops in his ears as in a half-hearted attempt to mimic hers. The young man was clad in a deep green tunic, a sword hanging diagonally across his back, and a shield emblazoned with the royal crest strapped over it and his bow and quiver of arrows. Pouches that bulged in strange ways hung from his belt, hinting at the many secrets he held for special occasions. He was exactly as she remembered him.

"It is good to see you again, Link," Zelda murmured, clasping her gloved hands nervously behind her. She had not anticipated this feeling of shyness, as though they had barely met before. How absurd!

"Aye," Link, always a man of few words, returned. After gazing up at her solemnly for a few more moments, he hesitantly drew nearer, stepping over the low bushes without hardly having to look down.

Again, Zelda felt an odd sensation inside of her, as she watched him approach and noticed with a strange vividness how the moonlight shone on the little hoops in his ears, how they jiggled and swung when he walked. "I am glad you came," she hastily added, pushing her strange thoughts aside. "At first, I was half afraid that you might have forgotten."

Link's lips quirked upwards in a small smile. "Forgotten?" He chuckled slightly, and she noticed - for what reason, she knew not - how low his voice had become. "How could I have forgotten my promise?"

Zelda laughed nervously, feeling stranger and stranger by the minute. "Well, it was so long ago..."

Link stopped at the foot of the stairs that separated them: only a few steps connecting the small dais to the ground. He was directly below her now. "Time means nothing to me. Not when it comes to keeping a promise."

Zelda bit her lip, realizing how condescending she must have sounded. "Forgive me, I-"

But Link shook his head. "You have no reason to apologize." Apparently wishing to ease a bit of the tension of having newly met after so many years, he stretched and yawned luxuriously. "It has been a long journey," he said in a much lighter tone. "I rode all through the night and all through the next day to come here in time!"

Instantly, Zelda was comfortable with him again, and she smiled. "You needn't have gone to such trouble on my account. One more night would not have made an ounce of difference."

"Oh, but it would," Link replied, shrugging off his equipment and laying them at his feet. "You would have been disappointed, and one can't have a perturbed princess!"

Zelda laughed freely with him, feeling more and more at ease with every moment. This was the Link of old, the Link who had been her friend. The young man who frequently called her a princess yet never treated her as one. Instead, he treated her as an equal, as a friend, and she appreciated this in a world of bowing courtiers. Link stretched and rolled his shoulders to get rid of the kinks of the road, and she found herself watching his muscles bulge and move underneath his clothes. He was a very strong man; she had seen him lift great boulders high over his head before.

Forcing herself from such thoughts, Zelda said eagerly, "You _must_ tell me of your adventures, Link! Tell me everything! I want to hear it all!"

And so Link settled himself cross-legged on the soft grass, and she sat at the foot of the stairs with her chin cupped in her hands, and he told her of all that had happened to him since they had last seen each other. The tale was of considerable length, as they had parted nearly five years ago. There was much that he had seen and done in his wanderings, and his tale was so amazing that she was certain she was the only one who would ever believe him. He spoke of magicians, of islands more dream than reality, of dark and alternate worlds and of glorious and mysterious places. He spoke of all those he had saved, entire villages more often than not, and sometimes an entire kingdom. Yet finally his tale drew to a close, and a silence grew between them. Zelda gazed up at the moon, which had moved a surprising distance across the sky during Link's story.

Link remained silent, as though recovering from his lengthy discourse when he was usually wont to say only two or three sentences at a time. After several minutes in silence, however, he spoke in a soft voice. "I wrote a song for you, Princess."

Zelda looked down in surprise and saw that his head was bowed so that his face was hidden from view. He turned his little ocarina over and over in his hands, his only sign of nervousness.

"A song for me?" Zelda murmured, her voice nearly a whisper. Her cheeks burned with pleasure, and she was grateful for the cover of darkness. "Will you play it?"

"If you will listen."

Link straightened up, put his instrument to his lips, and began to play. As always, the music that poured from his lips was beautifully melancholy, as though a deep sadness lived in his soul and found its only outlet in his songs. Even tunes that Zelda knew were meant to be happy seemed to take on a much more somber tone when he played them. Yet this sadness did not detract from the beauty of the music; if anything, it only made the songs more poignant, more powerful, and more precious. The tune he played now was a slow tune, a tune that made her heart ache in her chest for its sheer sadness. It was the weeping of a widow, one who had lost everything precious to her. Yet interwoven into this sadness was an undying hope, a core of strength that would not be quenched. Several tears found their way down her cheek as she listened to his song, for it spoke to her very soul with words that could not be translated into human words or thoughts.

She was a soaring eagle, flying high above the world, seeing all. Yet she was seeking something...or someone. She looked far and wide, yet she could not find it...or him. It was then that she realized what she had been looking for all along could not be found at the ends of the earth. She turned homeward, and saw the castle looming up before her. It...he was waiting. Waiting for her. What she longed for, what she needed... She swept down into the courtyard, where a young man all clad in green stood waiting for her, a song on his lips. He, _he_ was what she needed. He spoke to her, but she could not understand the tongues of men. Thus, he sang a song, a song even the dumbest beast could not deny.

And then Zelda was back in her body, watching as Link self-consciously put away his ocarina. "It was meant to have words as well," he muttered, getting to his feet once more, "but I cannot sing."

Zelda rose and took one step closer to him. "Please tell me," she implored, extending one gloved hand slightly as if he could put his words into her palm. "I would hear the words you put to the song."

Link scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment, clearly wishing he had said nothing whatsoever of his song. "I am not accustomed to writing poetry, but..." He cleared his throat and recited:

_Eyes blue as the Zoras' Cove  
__Golden hair like a treasure trove  
__Her voice is soft and fair__  
Chasing away all gloom and despair__  
Of whom do I speak?__  
A princess, fair and meek__  
A Hero greater than Time  
__A heart greater than mine  
__Is the princess, who thou art  
__Is the queen, queen of my heart  
__Had I a thousand foes to slay  
__Had I a thousand words to say  
__I would ask for naught but this  
I seek naught but a single-_

Yet Link abruptly stopped, his cheeks red even in the dim light of the moon. He stood, shoulders hunched, shifting his weight awkwardly from one foot to the other.

"What do you seek?" Zelda asked in the slightest of whispers. She felt cold all through, and her heart pounded loudly in her ears. She watched his temple bulge as he clenched and unclenched his teeth, still refusing to meet her gaze. He seemed impossibly close, till she realized that one of them must have moved forward during his poem. Which of them had it been? She nearly forgot about her question as she watched the shadows play on the many dips and curves of his pointed ear. It was very close. _He_ was very close. She could almost feel his heart pounding - every bit as hard as hers, she realized. Link lifted his head, and their eyes met. She saw in his deep blue eyes something...something she had never seen before, yet seemed familiar all the same. No, she corrected herself. She _had_ seen it before, in his eyes the day they had parted. In his eyes dwelt a strange sadness echoed in his music, a longing that he knew would never be fulfilled. She wanted to fill the emptiness she saw inside him, for she felt the same emptiness in her own heart. Zelda parted her lips to say something of this, but before she could utter a word, Link leaned forward and kissed her.


End file.
